Prosecutors Indict 35 Suspects Without Detention for Manipulating Portal Ad Rankings

A group of 35 people were prosecuted for manipulating search results on portals such as Naver to advertise a specific company.

On the 31st, the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Lee Hee-chan) announced that they had indicted 35 people without detention, including A (43), the CEO of an online advertising agency, on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act (infringement, etc.) and obstructing computer business operations.

They are accused of manipulating search results through macro programs that repeatedly perform specific tasks such as keyword searches at the request of advertisers or intermediaries.

Ten people belonging to six online advertising agencies purchased macro programs and blog accounts under other people's names from March 2018 to February this year and manipulated search results. When keywords designated by advertisers were searched on portals through the macro programs, they were exposed as related search terms. In addition, promotional posts for advertisers were posted on blogs using other people's accounts, and the macro programs were used to raise the search ranking of those promotional posts.

In addition, the prosecution indicted one developer and seller of the macro programs, 12 Naver account sellers, and 12 advertisers and advertising intermediaries. Among the advertisers was a hospital director.

The six online advertising agencies earned approximately 21.2 billion won in criminal proceeds through these methods. The developers and sellers of the macro programs earned about 280 million won, and the 11 Naver account selling companies earned about 910 million won in criminal proceeds.

The prosecution detected clues to the crime on September 22 last year and launched an investigation. From October last year to January this year, they proved the charges through analysis of seized items and investigation of related persons. From February to May this year, additional investigations including analysis of seized items identified a total of 35 suspects.

A prosecution official said, "This is a crime that caused damage by seriously disrupting the online advertising ecosystem through a deceptive advertising method involving an organic and organized crime structure," and added, "We will strictly respond to cybercrimes that hinder a healthy internet usage environment and fair competition order in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.